California Biographies
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176
PAUL NEUMANN. Of the many callings at which a man may succeed the world recognizes
agriculture as of extreme importance and to-day the honest farmer or rancher can hold his
own with the best wherever he may go. Following this line of endeavor with marked success is
Paul Neumann, a resident of Merced county, living near Le Grand, a man who has the utmost
respect and esteem of his neighbors and acquaintances and one who deserves all the success
which he enjoys. In his life work he but follows in the footsteps of his father, Charles Neumann,
a native of Germany, who came to New York when quite young. There he took for his wife
Miss Abbie Herwig, also of German nativity ; the parents still reside in New York state, where,
though seventy-two years of age, the father still follows farm pursuits. Besides Paul there is a
son, John P., of San Mateo county, and a daughter, Mrs. J. L. Gillette, also residing in California.
Upon his father's farm in central New York, Paul Neumann was born October 25, 1857, and
upon this same farm he was reared and lived until twenty-two years of age, when he left his
home for the west. Traveling first to Kansas, after remaining there a short time he started in
October of that same year for California, locating in Merced county, which has been his home
ever since. He first hired out as a laborer on a ranch, following this until he was able to rent
two hundred acres of land near his present place. He afterward rented one thousand acres of
rich land and finally accumulated enough to purchase his eight hundred and eighty-acre ranch
one mile from Le Grand, where he now lives. Besides this ranch Mr. Neumann rents twenty-six
hundred and forty acres, which he devotes to grain and stock. The thriving condition of his
whole place speaks well for his business ability and worth.
In California Mr. Neumann was united in marriage with Miss Martha A. Mallory, a native of
Sonoma county and a daughter of the late J. F. Mallory, a pioneer of that section. This union
has been blessed with the following six children : Charles F., Edith A., Mabel M., Lester P.,
Howard L. and Marvin E., all of whom are still at home. Politically an adherent of Republican
principles, Mr. Neumann has served his party as supervisor of his district for one term, from
1892 to 1896, and has also served as school trustee of his district for several years. He was
one of the organizers of the California Grain Growers' Association, and fraternally affiliates
with the Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Aid. The success which has come to Mr. Neumann has
been richly deserved, as his position to-day is the result of enterprise and perseverance.